SPN 6.12: A Mother of a Theory

[tartysuz]

I'm 99.99% sure that my theory that the "mother" is Tiamat is correct. I gravitated to Tiamat in the first place because she was associated with chaos and said to have birthed all the creatures (for SPN purposes: all the monsters) in the ancient Babylonian conception of pre-history.

The appearance of dragons in last night's episodes pretty much seals it. Here's a description of Tiamat's appearance from Wikipedia:

Though Tiamat is often described by modern authors as a sea serpent or dragon, no ancient texts exist in which there is a clear association with those kinds of creatures, and the identification is debated. The Enûma Elish specifically states that Tiamat did give birth to dragons and serpents, but they are included among a larger and more general list of monsters including scorpion men and merpeople, none of which imply that any of the children resemble the mother or are even limited to aquatic creatures.

Applying the above to the SPN universe:

• Tiamat may have birthed all the monsters, but she does not necessarily look like the monsters.
  
• Tiamat gave birth to dragons and is otherwise closely associated with dragons -- in fact, Tiamat is a dragon goddess character in D & D. Tiamat is also used in World of Warcraft, which was specifically referenced in the episode.
  
• So far there haven't been explicit connections between this mother figure in SPN and water -- but then again, the show has had a lone siren driving around the Midwest. I'm willing to bet the writers put this detail in the ignore basket. They did hint broadly at this when Bobby said Sam should look to less literal manifestations of the legend that dragon lairs are caves.

If my theory bears out, then the Winchesters would have gone from battling an Abrahamic plot against them and the world as signified by fathers, to a chaotic, pagan plot as signified by mothers.

Hopefully, Samuel succeeds in resurrecting Mary so she can go mama-a-mama against Tiamat!

Comments

[monicawoe.livejournal.com]

Tiamat is one of my top 3 guesses too. The other two are Echidna and Kali!

My full thoughts are over here:
monicawoe.livejournal.com/21602.html (http://monicawoe.livejournal.com/21602.html)

[tartysuz.livejournal.com]

Thanks for reading and thanks for the link!

[etoile444.livejournal.com]

I am hoping that they utilize the idea that Mary has been in purgatory to bring her back into the fight. I think i'd be cool! I'm all for primordial chaos and Tiamat.

[tartysuz.livejournal.com]

A+ to that!

[yourlibrarian]

Hopefully, Samuel succeeds in resurrecting Mary so she can go mama-a-mama against Tiamat!

Heh, mama-a-mama.

[tartysuz.livejournal.com]

It's early...I pun before coffee!

[chibifrieza.livejournal.com]

Fascinating. I was stuck thinking it couldn't be Lilith, since they've already used her, and I don't know that much about other mother figures (also they've been nominally Judeo-Christian-focused so far, so I wasn't sure that was going to change.) Your theory makes a hell of a lot of sense. :D

Mostly the the episode just left me going "DRAGONS!!!" XD (Also, why did they need so many virgins if all it took was one?)

[tartysuz.livejournal.com]

I think they wanted spares in case the first one didn't "take." I worry about what they will do with the girls now :(

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid the extras are for when the first one "wears thin"...

[tartysuz.livejournal.com]

Yikes! All too possible.

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid the extras are for when the first one "wears thin"...

[abrakadabrah.livejournal.com]

What does "wear thin" mean in this context

Also strikes me as odd that they need virgins to rebirth the MOTHER into this world.

[tartysuz.livejournal.com]

I don't want to speak for fannishliss, but the episode seemed to suggest that the girl's body was being used as a vessel, not to literally birth the Mother (but maybe you're suggesting a more metaphorical rebirth?), and thus might burn out, like Nick's body when it was inhabited by Lucifer last season.

But it is ironic: a virgin is required to host the Mother. Or maybe she wants to make a new line of beings, and thus needs a virgin body. Hm...!

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

well... two things.

First, the visuals of when the girl rose up out of the pit were that she was fairly full of fire ... it definitely struck me that the vessel would need to be at least as hardy as the one for Lucifer... which wore thin very quickly, with poor Nick kind of bubbling and flaking away... and these are just random virgins, not particularly bred for the job.

Second, the triune nature of Virgin-Mother-Crone is a fairly common idea, so that Virgins are often dedicated to the service of the Mother... though it does seem a little paradoxical... but I guess the idea is also that the Virgin is a vessel that has yet to be filled, so maybe easier for the Mother to fill. (This language makes me a little nervous; I mean it in more the archetypal than stereotype sense )

[tartysuz.livejournal.com]

Thanks for following up on that! I wonder if the Virgin-Mother-Crone triune will come into play.

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

I am thinking that Tiamat is too specific, but otherwise, good guess! They did already reference Tiamat by her coin in Wishful Thinking. :)

There are any number of Old Mother figures that have been said by patriarchy to have birthed "monsters".... I have a feeling that they'll stay more general than naming Gaia, Echidna, or Tiamat, and stick with just calling her "the Mother of All" which is fine with me --- I'll think of her as Gaia, no matter what they call her, but that's just my eurocentrism talking.

[tartysuz.livejournal.com]

That's a good point -- they might just leave her unnamed. After all, if she is the ultimate mother, why would she need a name?

[yaya-wr8t3r.livejournal.com]

A lot of the Warcraft references flew over my head, so this post really enlightens me. Now, I'm gonna do some research on this Tiamata character ;)

[tartysuz.livejournal.com]

Thanks! For research, try to get a hold of The Greek Myths by Robert Graves. He has quite a number of notes on both Tiamat and Echidna. Echidna is a figure in Greek myth, but she seems to be modelled on or spun from the Babylonian legend of Tiamat.

In any case, I have a feeling that fannishliss is right, that the Mother will remain unnamed and could incorporate all these similar legends.

[yaya-wr8t3r.livejournal.com]

Thanks, will look into it :)

As for them keeping her name unknown, that would probably be better. I think big bads, unless they are obviously from a specific lore or culture or myth, should remain unnamed.

[nath2704.livejournal.com]

Interesting theory...

[tartysuz.livejournal.com]

Thanks for reading!